Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Acquires 159,693 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,905,705 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159,693 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.13% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $1,351,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 50.0% during the second quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 75 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $451.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.20. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $346.29 and a twelve month high of $519.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $475.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $472.74.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.77. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price (up previously from $508.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $472.00 to $509.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $499.12.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $323,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,217,500. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 3,784 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $499.00, for a total value of $1,888,216.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 9,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,987,006. The trade was a 27.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,445 shares of company stock valued at $2,218,394. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor.